We met at First Magnitude Brewing Company in Gainesville, Florida in August 2021. At the time, we were both PhD students at the University of Florida studying Global Health (Katie) and Ecology (Dave). We quickly bonded over our experience conducting fieldwork in Africa, our ongoing marathon training, and our passions for skiing. Dave picked Katie because she is a good skiier. Katie picked Dave for his ski house in Utah. Perfect match. Our relationship continued to grow through the Fall of 2021 and met its first challenge in early 2022. Our 2022 schedules were such that Dave would be in Madagascar from January through April and Katie would be in Ghana from April through December. Our relationship was new, but it was strong, so we decided to stay together for a year of distance. During that time, not only did our relationship survive, but it thrived. We supported each other through challenging yet rewarding field seasons, and Dave even managed to visit Katie in Ghana for an elephant safari. Our tagline during many months of distance became "love you talk soon" or "lyts", a term we still use often. In 2023, we were back together in Gainesville. We made up for lost time skiing in Vermont, California, and Utah, running a 200-mile Ragnar relay race from Canada to Seattle, and cheering on the Florida Gators at home. Dave showed his devotion to Katie by wiping the blood off her pink ski onzie after a misplaced tree put a hole in her head and cutting back on XL Hawaiian shirts. Katie demonstrated her love by spending 24 continuous hours in a Ragnar van with the Dartmouth contingent and mustering the courage to feed Dave's gecko when he was away. Our relationship was stronger than ever going into 2024, which was a BIG year for us. We earned our PhDs, went backpacking in Patagonia (Dave had to made sure Katie could backpack before popping the question), and got engaged! Dave meticulously planned the perfect engagement in Vero Beach with a photographer and our families present. Now we are happily planning our wedding while Katie finishes medical school at UF and Dave shuttles between Gainesville and New Haven for his postdoctoral fellowship. While we do not know where the next few years will lead us, we are confident that we are better together.